In the past, the citrus team at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) has heard some complaints about its Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC) website. When it asked growers what information they needed, “the feedback we got was that it’s really hard to find information on our website,” says Michael Rogers, director of the CREC.
Growers told the citrus team that information they wanted was scattered around among different UF/IFAS sites “and you have to spend a lot of time trying to find things,” Rogers says. The citrus team began working on the website more than a year ago and made big improvements to the site during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s a lot of improvements and a lot more information there,” says Rogers. “It’s much more easy to navigate, and we’re encouraging everybody to have a look … We think that everybody’s going to find it a lot more user friendly.” He emphasizes that an easy-to-use website is especially important during the pandemic, when UF/IFAS has less personal contact with growers. See the improved CREC website here.
Growers going to the improved site will see three major headings: Ongoing Research, Presentations and Resources. Rogers says the Presentations section includes many archived UF/IFAS research presentations, including those from Citrus Expo. The Resources section includes links to various guides about nutrition and other production practices.
According to Rogers, the new website incorporates in one place citrus research conducted in Fort Pierce, Gainesville, Immokalee and Lake Alfred.
This interview with Rogers is featured in the August All In For Citrus podcast, a joint project of UF/IFAS and AgNet Media. Listen to the full podcast here.
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